The threat of unexamined secondary data: a critical race transformative convergent mixed methods

This article uses a critical race theory framework to conceptualize a Critical Race Transformative Convergent Mixed Methods (CRTCMM) in education. CRTCMM is a methodology that challenges normative educational research practices by acknowledging that racism permeates educational institutions and marginalizes Communities of Color. The focus of this article is to examine the quantitative component of the mixed methods to interrogate ‘objective’ and ‘scientific’ assumptions of the statistical practices used in analyzing secondary datasets. To demonstrate this method, we analyze the ways in which race and ethnicity are treated as a variable in a secondary higher education dataset, and highlight how the conflation of both can influence how a sample is taken. We argue that it is imperative that theoretical frameworks used in research are not only applied to the research questions, analysis or interpretation, but also the secondary datasets being used.